


Partially into the Wind

by zarabithia



Category: Captain America, DCU, DCU - Comicverse, Marvel, Marvel 616, Wonder Woman (Comics)
Genre: Crossover, F/F, F/M, Female Protagonist, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-07-08
Updated: 2010-07-08
Packaged: 2017-10-10 10:51:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 10,927
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/98937
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zarabithia/pseuds/zarabithia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Princess Diana dreams of leaving the confines of Paradise Island. A certain blond-haired soldier helps make her dream a reality.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> A note about continuity: Originally, the Diana of this fic was based on the Pérez relaunch, because that reboot features the Amazons at their strongest and best. As the fic grew, however, it took on several additional Wonder Woman stories, from the Silver Age to New Frontier. Regardless, my continuity is firmly post-Pérez, which is why the sheer presence of men on Themysicra cannot render the Amazons powerless.
> 
> In terms of the timeline: comics timeline are always iffy at best, particularly when trying to cram the major events of both DC and Marvel into one timeline. I am using the [sliding timescale.](http://marvel.wikia.com/Marvel_Time) Problems with the timeline should be taken up with Marvel or DC, not me.

There are not any actual seasons in Paradise. Demeter's rage and grief do not reach Themyscira's shores, and Apollo's gift shines with particular warmth upon the island.

Although they do not have seasons, the residents are not unfamiliar with the concept of storms; fury in the skies often quenches the island, providing bountiful harvest to the Amazons who live there.

But the strongest of their gods' wrath light up the sky in the clouds around the island, for the purpose of keeping strangers away from the Paradise where they are not welcome. _Those_ storms do not reach Themyscira's shores, and the only Amazon who has ever observed them is their princess.

Often she hovers, just out of reach of those powerful currents and flashes of light, and wonders what it might be like, to dodge the lightning and fight against the pull of the wind. Floating there, drenched in a swirl of waters from above and below, Diana yearns for the the freedom to break through the boundaries that keep Man's World out, and keep her _in._

Her gods eventually hear her prayers. Or, perhaps instead, it is a different god - the one to whom the outsider makes his plea - that grants a reprieve not only for the falling soldier, but for the Amazon dwelling on the sands of the island below.

Either way, Steve Rogers does not die that day.

~~

The first thing Steve notices, when he wakes up, is the hair. The ladies he is most familiar with keep their hair fastened neatly in place, and the only exception he's ever seen are his mother, when she was the most tired and ragged from work, and Spitfire during battle.

He cannot speak to her experiences with battle, but this woman, he knows instantly, has never toiled over a basket of dirty laundry to pay the rent. Still her hair reminds wild and free, a veritable waterfall of curls cascading down over her shoulders, wet ends clinging to her white dress.

For the first time since Steve went away to war, he wants to draw to commemorate the beauty in front of him, instead of to honor the horrors he's seen.

The beautiful lady says something to him in a dialect that Steve doesn't immediately recognize, but he shakes off the head pain that is to be expected with surviving an exploding plane and tries to concentrate.

Greek, he realizes, although not exactly the Greek that he is familiar with. But, if Steve has learned anything in the time he's spent away from home, it's that regardless of the language barrier, a world of intent can be shared through tone. Many times on the battlefield it has saved his life and the life of his fellow soldiers.

He does not know where he is, or how he got here, but her tone tells him he is safe. His muscles relax as he gives a broken answer, in a language that doesn't exactly match hers. She tilts her head as he talks, frowning slightly, and then taps the front of his costume. He can tell she's holding back her strength which each tap.

He's seen that look on the battlefield, too - one of recognition for the flag he wears. It surprises him to see that look on this woman's face, who so obviously is not from the land he calls home.

"You wear Diana Trevor's colors," she says. "I take it you speak her language?"

"If the language you're speaking now is Miss Trevor's, then yes, Ma'am," Steve answers.

Her words are broken, too, but not as garbled as Steve's would have been. "She fell out of the sky, like you, before the gods gave me life. She was a healer but she picked up arms when Doom's Doorway was opened and fought alongside my people."

"And she wore my colors?" Steve doesn't know anyone involved in this story, and he is not so sure what Doom's Doorway is, but he feels a surge of pride in someone from his country who would help someone in need without question.

"Different arrangement and more stars, but the same stars and stripes, in the same colors," the lady answers. "I was named Diana, after her."

"I'm pleased to meet you, Diana," Steve says, and he tries slowly to sit up. There's a heavy buzzing in his ear, no doubt still from the exploding plane. "And I don't mean to sound ungrateful, but the plane I was on -"

"I'm sorry," Diana answers, and the words may not come as quickly as they would on another's tongue, but rarely has Steve heard them sound more sincere. "But the airplane did not make it. Neither did the pilot. Both were swallowed into Poseidon's realm. You're on the island of Themyscira now, home to the Amazons."

Amazons are, of course, mythical. Or so Steve has always thought. But so far in this war, he's fought alongside an artificial man, a circus boy who could turn himself into flame, a man from Atlantis, and a woman who runs almost as fast as he can think.

It's not _that_ big of a stretch for him to believe in Amazons, and as Diana takes his hand and leads him from the "healing temple" out into the open of her lush island, it's even less difficult to believe. Women, dressed in various stages of armor and dresses that match Diana's, practice archery, sword fighting, and hand to hand combat. These people are warriors, Steve realizes, although the weight behind the hand in his shouldn't make that a surprise.

"I've never heard of this place," Steve says, and a slight feeling of anticipation twists in his gut, detracting from the awe of the island, as he asks, "Are you planning on joining the War?"

"This is Themyscira - _Paradise Island_," Diana repeats patiently. "We know of no war here, though we are prepared to fight one if it comes to our shores."

_Paradise_. Compared to the war-torn Europe Steve has known in the past few years, the island is absolutely a paradise, and Steve wishes he doesn't have to be the one to shatter the illusion of peace.

But he does. Because fighting to keep the tides of war away from his shores is something Steve knows well and he knows it is not a battle that can be fought without truth.

~~

It's another week before Steve can fully stand on his own two feet without help (and he feels badly each day that he is away, knowing that Bucky will be worrying about his whereabouts.) During that week, he practices throwing his shield in small increments with the Amazons, visits the grave site dedicated to Diana Trevor, and watches as the Amazons hold a tournament to determine which of them is going to accompany him back to Europe.

He feels sorry for Queen Hippolyta's surprise and displeasure when her daughter soundly defeats all the other opponents and reveals her identity, but Steve can't share either emotion with the queen. He aches to see Diana in battle next to the Invaders and beside him and Bucky - using the skills that have defeated an entire army full of warriors. 

When that week passes, Diana holds her own instrument of truth. She, like Steve, is dressed in the colors of Diana Trevor's homeland, though the silver and gold adornments speak of Diana's Amazon heritage as well.

Steve holds on tightly as she hoists him into her arms and flies him back to "Man's World," not failing to catch the joy with which Diana dodges the crackle of electricity in the lightning or the jubilant fashion in which she pushes onward against and around the harsh winds that ripped apart his fragile plane. Flying in another's arms is not new to him, but the sensations caused by flying with Diana are entirely unfamiliar.

"Together, we will defeat Ares and his war,'" Diana shouts, partially to Steve, partially into the wind. Ares is another name that Steve knows from childhood books. Despite what he has seen on Diana's island, he is not entirely willing to blame Ares for the atrocities committed in Hitler's name.

But as they break free of the clouds, Steve doesn't worry about who is to blame for the fight they are heading towards. The warmth of the sun washes over them, and for the second time in the past week, Steve's fingers itch to draw the splendor of the beauty in front of him.

He thinks of his own home, in contrast to the home of the woman flying him towards Europe, and of the way it always looked during this time of year - when winter turned to spring.


	2. Chapter 2

Every war painting Steve's ever seen shows depictions of soldiers struggling through the cold of winter. As an artist, Steve supposes he understands how difficult it is to show the full scope of human suffering through the bright colors of the sun warming the land. Winter is a cheaper, easier artistic ploy - it isn't hard to make the audience shiver in sympathy for frozen soldiers, but it is nearly impossible to draw the same degree of empathy for parched throats and eyes made heavy through the weight of the heat. Likewise, winter is a better metaphor all around for war.

And yet, Steve knows that if they make it out of this war alive, and he has time to look back with the kind of leisure that seems so foreign to him at the present, sorrow will come heaviest when he looks back on summers like these. The ambition of the men he leads has not diminished, but are severely hampered. They may plod forward, but sweat makes their vision blur and the heat of the uniform makes their footing slower than it should be.

Captain America could give another speech to urge them forward, but he's already given one today, at the beginning of their journey, and giving another would only mock their efforts.

They're good men, and they deserve better than that. Steve remains silently as he continues them forward, his legs restless with the urge to stride faster than his tired troops can keep up with.

~~

"You do realize?" Diana says, as Cheetah's hands squeeze tightly around her neck, "that you aren't actually strong enough to hurt me?"

It's a taunt, and not a particularly nice one. But the rage it causes in Cheetah's already fragile mind is a necessary distraction that allows Diana the freedom to aim her kick properly. The kick loosens Cheetah's hold and sends Diana's opponent flying backward, and allows Diana to rise up from the ground.

Cheetah may not be very strong, but there is something to be said for surprise attacks - namely, their ability to knock an Amazon to the ground.

They didn't exactly have that kind of training on Paradise Island. Their war games were more direct and more truthful. Diana's training prepared her for opponents who would come at her honorably in battle, with sword drawn and shield raised.

Cheetah and others like her, in Patriarch's World, do not fight like Diana's mothers or sisters. But, then, Diana also sat at her mother's knee and listened to stories of Hercules' attack on her mother and sisters - so the act of deceit mingled with the way of the warrior is not foreign to Diana. It simply is not something they _practice_ where she comes from.

But, although Diana has no doubt that her mother would not be surprised to hear that it is a type of battle still waged by Man's World, she does not look forward to looking her mother in the eye and sharing the knowledge that the women of the world have since joined in the way of Hercules.

Diana takes advantage of Cheetah's disorientation to land swiftly on Cheetah's back and subdue the still struggling woman. Despite everything, Diana cannot help but respect her opponent's spirit.

"You have lost," she tells Cheetah lowly, in words meant only for the woman beneath Diana. "Some battles aren't winnable."

Cheetah produces a low, angry sound - an approximation of a growl - and her struggles begin anew. Diana shakes her head at the effort, and secures her lasso around Cheetah's hands. "Be still."

The trip to return Cheetah to prison is a short one, but the paper work detains Diana long enough to allow her to have company when she arrives back to the camp.

"You had company?" Steve asks.

"Why didn't you save any for us?" Bucky adds.

"Sorry, boys, Cheetah was too tired to play with you, too," Diana answers, watching the soldiers Steve has led to this point nearly collapse with exhaustion. She could offer to help them, but past experience has shown her that they will only be displeased by her efforts. Some angrier even than Cheetah.

It's an odd way to treat an ally, and not one Diana fully understands.

"Oh, just _her_," Bucky says with disappointment. "What kind of crazy woman dresses up like a cat, anyway?"

"You were hoping for someone else?" Diana answers, amusedly. This one craves battle, even more than she does, and it helps stall some of the lingering guilt Diana feels for the rush that floods through her veins each time this war calls her into battle. Ares is at his most wicked and has caused countless deaths, but Athena help her, Diana's heart still beats for heat of a fight.

"I was hoping to see you maybe beat on Warrior Woman again," Bucky answers. "And you could have saved Master Man for us."

"Or she could have taken them both, without our help," Steve replies, which earns him a scowl from Bucky.

"Not very sporting of her to do that to a teammate," Bucky grumps. "So what's the deal with Cat Lady? She decide to join the Nazis, or what? I thought she was a New York crook."

"Apparently, I was taking too long to visit the States for her liking," Diana answers. "Decided to pay me a visit to speed things up a bit, under the guise of stealing our supplies."

"Just the same, we should probably double check the supplies," Steve considers. "I assume you haven't had time, since you were busy fighting Cheetah..."

"No, I haven't. Why don't you help me?" Diana suggests warmly. "Since I apparently need lessons in _teamwork_."

Bucky coughs and Steve bows his head and blushes in the way that lets Diana know that she has been too blunt again. If it was a less attractive trait, Diana might take pity on him and find a way to correct her behavior to cause him less embarrassment.

Then again, maybe not.

"Hold down the fort, Bucky," Steve says eventually.

They really do check the supplies, but within the discretion provided by shadows of a tent, Diana pulls Steve close and greets him in the way company does not allow.

He kisses her back, breaking the kiss only when she does. "I don't blame Cheetah for missing you a bit," he murmurs, before tilting his head for a second kiss.

~~

As night falls in the camp, Steve sits on one side of Diana, with Bucky on her opposite side. The three of them eat their Mystery Meat rations with the rest of the soldiers, Captain America and Wonder Woman's colors shining a little less brightly in the dark and making the soldiers feel slightly more at ease.

Or perhaps the day's exhaustion and the continuing heat of the night makes relaxation more of a necessity than a choice. Either way, Steve leans back and listens, as Diana tells her story of the land only the two of them have been to and the soldiers eat it up.

"A whole island full of women," one of the men says. "Wow."

"Are they _all_ just like you?" another asks, and whether it's his tone or his frown, Diana pauses in eating and looks directly at him.

"Just like me in what way?" she asks.

It hasn't felt like very long since they've stepped foot off that island, but her English is as strong as Steve's, and when she asks that question, there isn't so much as a single broken syllable from her tongue.

"As strong," the soldier clarifies. Then he frowns slightly, not sure that's what he meant.

"_Warriors_, do you mean?" Bucky offers and the soldier nods.

"Would it be so bad if they were?" Diana questions.

It's an interesting tactic, one that Steve doesn't expect. Usually, Diana is unfailingly truthful, to the point of bluntness. Answering a question with one of her own isn't the Amazon way he's come to expect.

His own rations still in his hand.

"Well." The soldier shrugs and the discomfort in his actions tells his audience that he's remembered who he is talking to. The woman he's questioning has saved countless lives - if not the life of this particular soldier, then almost certainly one he cares about. "Well, no disrespect, ma'am, but where I come from, that's not what a woman's job should be."

"And you have the right to determine that?" Diana presses.

Anger flashes over the faces of the soldier. "I have the right to determine what I'm fighting for, and it ain't for our women to become like your Amazons."

"But this war already expects them to be," Bucky interjects. "There's Spitfire and Black Canary and Hawkgirl, sure, but there's also all the nurses, WACs, and WASPs. We couldn't be fighting the war without them."

The soldier shrugs. "Nothing wrong with being a nurse, but the rest of it don't sit right with me. What's the point in fighting to protect our way of life if the price is that high?"

"Have you asked the women you seek to protect if they would like to pick up arms and fight themselves?" Diana asks. "Because you seem very convinced that your entire world is at stake, yet send only half your available fighters to protect it."

"Look, lady, I don't -" the soldier begins, and Steve knows it will make Diana angry, but he interrupts anyway.

"A _lady_ she is. And she's also a _soldier_. I suggest you remember both those things before you speak and give her the respect she is due," Steve cautions.

The soldier stiffens and answers simply, "Then I guess I don't really have anything more to say, _Sir_."

They finish their meals in silence, and Diana's bracelets make a very distinct chime against the armor on her chest as she stands up.

Steve heads for his own tent, and is actually relieved to find Diana waiting on him there. "I didn't need you to interrupt," she tells him.

"No, but he needed it," Steve answers. "These men are soldiers, Diana. They need to be reminded that in battle they have to follow Wonder Woman. It's a new concept for them, and one I won't let them forget."

"It isn't in battle that they have the problem. It is the rest of the time," Diana replies.

"It's harder to change a man's mind when his life isn't on the line," Steve agrees.

"It's not just your men." Diana says in frustration. Her fist curls around the lasso at her side. It's something she does a lot when she's angry, or frustrated, or when Steve's world is failing to make any sense to her whatsoever. Steve supposes it's a comforting reminder of home, where things did actually make sense.  "When I was working with the Justice Society, I also suggested that more women should be trained to fight. I had thought that since they _have_ female warriors, they would find such a suggestion sensible."

Steve hasn't worked very much with the Justice Society. He knows that Green Lantern and The Flash are solid workers, and he is proud to call them teammates in this war, but he can tell by Diana's tone that the conversation didn't go well. "I take it they disappointed you?"

She looks at him with the same look she gave the soldier earlier in the evening. Bucky says the look is the "Goddess of Truth Look," the one that makes him shiver all over. It doesn't make Steve shiver. It takes him back home and makes him taste the wind off the pier that he could only ever taste on the hottest of summer days.

"Do you agree with them?" she asks. "And please, be truthful. Not polite."

_Always_, with her. But he doesn't say that. "To an extent, maybe. I joined this war to protect the people back home, and that means the women and children, too. But everything I was ever taught about how to fight and how to work hard, I learned at the knee of a woman whose hands were more calloused than any man in this camp."

The Look softens slightly. "I suspect the same can be said about many of the men in this camp. I'm glad you, at least, haven't forgotten."

"I loved her too much to do that." Diana turns her head up into the night sky, and Steve wonders if she is thinking of her own mother, who had taken turns throwing Steve's shield on the shores of Paradise. "Do you ever regret coming here?" he asks softly.

She turns her gaze from the stars back to him. "No. Why would you ask that?"

"You stood at the shore and dreamed of adventure. We have to disappoint you."

She fingers the lasso again and pauses before she speaks. "I have watched your soldiers lay down their lives for freedom. That freedom may be a more limited definition than my own, but that does not make me any less proud to stand next to them in battle."

He'd kiss her again, except that he is acutely aware that Bucky is standing off to the side, wanting access to their tent and trying to be discreet. So instead he offers, "That makes two of us," and watches her start to leave, to go to her own tent.

Before she gets very far, he adds, "I was supposed to be one of many super soldiers, Wonder Woman. Before the crash landing, I had to carry the weight of all those soldiers who might have been on my own shoulders and live up to what they might have accomplished. Since you've joined us, I feel like I know what serving next to them might have been like, and I'm glad to have someone else to share that weight."

It isn't a slight to the Invaders or to the men he serves next to, though they probably wouldn't necessarily agree with that. Fortunately, it's not for their ears.

The moon shines almost as brightly off her tiara as the sun does when she answers. "I consider you _my_ equal as well, Captain America."

The smile she gives him helps put him at ease after the discomfort of the night's conversation.

He watchers her go then, and Bucky takes that as his cue to make his entrance. "If you ask me, I think you shoulda let her hit 'im."

"They're my men. I have to _protect_ them, wouldn't you say?" Steve chuckles.

Bucky rolls his eyes as they slip into the tent. "I'm just sore that he interrupted her story. An island full of women. That brings up all sorts of questions about _companionship_, doesn't it?"

"Not really."

Bucky sighs at him in the tent. "Steve, not even you can be _that_ good. There's got to be a little devil in you somewhere wanting a better look-"

"_Bucky_."

"-Behind that gold eagle of hers."

"Go to _sleep_, Bucky."

"Can I make a comment about peeking in the tent first?"

"_No._"

Bucky laughs at Steve in the dark, before rolling over and going to sleep.

Steve can't be too angry at him. Because the boy has a point, and the lingering presence of the day's warmth into the night is entirely appropriate to the dreams Steve has, concerning companionship in its most devilish of forms.

~~


	3. Chapter 3

Her bracelets are still warm from the friction of battle. They're hot to Steve's touch, hot enough to burn if his fingers were to linger for very long. So he slips his hands higher up her arms, tracing each line of her muscles.

Her fingers trace his exposed abdomen, finding similar lines, and not for the first time, Steve feels like a stranger in his own body. He's used to his strength and build in battle, but here, in the intimacy of their shared tent, beneath his Amazon teammate, he is acutely aware of the scrawny body he left behind.

"Something wrong?" Diana asks, her hands stilling.

"No," Steve says immediately. "Nothing's wrong at all."

"You seem ... hesitant," Diana answers.

"It's easy to seem hesitant compared to you," Steve replies. It really is, because each stroke, kiss, and caress of Diana's is as determined and confident as any battle posture she's ever held.

"Bucky seems to believe you are a virgin," Diana confides. "Is that the reason you are hesitant?"

Steve sighs. He and Bucky are going to have a little chat about that. "This isn't my first time, Diana," he says, and remembers the warmth and kisses of a certain red-haired actress during the early days of his training, back in the States. Katharine and Diana would get along fabulously, he thinks.

"He believes I should be gentle with you," Diana continues, her fingers rubbing firm circles just below his ribs.

"Bucky is wrong on both accounts," Steve murmurs. "You should be as strong with me as you need to be."

Strong is definitely the word to describe the way her hands move from his stomach to beneath his shoulders, pulling him close. "I have not lied with a man before," Diana tells him, and Steve shouldn't be surprised by that. He is the first man she has seen - certainly Themyscira offered her no opportunity. "But I have known a touch in the same areas. Regardless of the weapon, the movements of battle are similar, are they not?"

"I imagine the principle is the same," Steve agrees.

Her head dips down, and the hair falls over her shoulders, just as unruly as the day Steve had landed on Themyscira. His fingers get lost in her curls and he allows her kiss to take them both back to Paradise and far away from the war that waits beyond their tent.

~~

Morning brings the arrival of mail for many of their soldiers. To Diana's great surprise, she receives a letter.

"They delivering from your island?" a soldier asks curiously, and Diana glances up from the envelope she hadn't expected to smile at the man.

Private Johnson. He's from Oklahoma, Diana remembers, has a girlfriend he writes to whenever he can, a baby sister named Isabelle whom he adores, and is prone to giving Private Andrews the same kind of looks that Bucky gives Toro.

It's good to know your fellow soldiers. It makes their movements easier to predict. Of course, on Themyscira, she hadn't had to _get to know_ anyone. Everyone knew her, and she knew them - it had been much easier that way.

But not nearly as fun.

She holds up the envelope for him to see. "Not nearly as far away as that, Private."

"It's probably fan mail," Bucky offers. "The government is pretty good about scanning it, but sometimes a stray letter gets through. Cap gets one every now and then."

"Why would they scan it?" Diana asks.

"Make sure we're not all spies, is my guess. Oh, and to keep you and Cap from running off to do some charity mission in the middle of the war," Bucky replies.

"They think a little letter is going to make me abandon my duty?" Diana's voice rises indignantly.

"No," Bucky says quickly. "It's just, you and Cap both have the bleeding heart thing going on."

"Bleeding heart?"

"It means you care too - " Bucky pauses, shakes his head, and tries again. "Cap always sees the best in people and wants to help them. You look at people and know exactly how terrible they are, but want to help them anyway. It's why you ... work so well together. But the love everyone thing...could be distracting."

"I could see that," Johnson agrees. He flushes a bit under Diana's gaze and squirms, but continues. "I mean, if Izzie could get letters to you asking you to come visit her school and show them how great you are in person, you'd do it, wouldn't you?"

"Of course." She's made time to visit female pilots, Red Cross workers and women working in factories in the land Diana Trevor called home. She does not see the difference between those actions and the ones he's proposing.

"See, now imagine thousands of letters," Bucky interjects. "You'd never have time to visit them all, not with a war still going on."

Diana gives them both a chiding look before opening the letter and giving it a quick read. She decides, even before she's reached the enthusiastic signature scrawled across the bottom, that she will definitely be visiting Etta Candy.

~~

Diana can only spare two days for her "leave" to Holliday College, and they are a busy two days, at that. She's greeted with a surprised "For the love of chocolate!" and an embrace by Miss Candy.

It's a warm welcome, but not one that lasts particularly long. The advisers for Miss Candy's sorority are quick to round up a dress to cover her "appropriately." They do bizarre things to her hair, and Diana allows them, though her lasso lies tightly in her fist during the wardrobe change.

She has to give a practice speech to the advisers, as well as to the dean of the college, before she is allowed to speak to the students. Her speech is subject to a complete rewrite, and she is given a nicely typed two pages of an approved speech.

Diana promises to look it over, and she does. She has learned that there are compromises to be made in this world. None of the words are disgusting, exactly. They do speak of a call to help their country. Yet they are not words Diana knows from her heart. The words, written for her, speak of duty, something Diana knows well, but they bind the duty to a stature of lesser importance and tie the women of Diana's audience in a place that is firmly one step behind their male companions.

Diana thinks of the men she has fought beside and of the acceptance and rejection she has known; she thinks of the love given freely among the women she left behind and the love hidden in shadows and in quiet gasps in the darkness that she is not supposed to hear among her fellow warriors.

She knows the value of a compromise, but this world should know the _harm_ of a compromise, as well. 

So when the moment comes to speak to a room full of women looking to her for guidance, the words written lie discarded, and instead, she speaks to the room about Diana Trevor's sacrifice and she ignores the disapproving gasps.

She keeps the dress, though. It survives the flight to Oklahoma, where she does, in fact, visit Izzie Johnson's school. 

~~

The rain falls, warmer and heavier than it's ever fallen before (at least, it certainly feels like it) and even for a super soldier, it's hard to keep his balance in the mud. But Steve fights on, and he remembers grim days of sitting next to the window and watching the rain fall on a grey New York day.

He had his drawings and his books, but even with their help, Steve could not imagine a world such as this. The sky is alight with the flames from Green Lantern, Toro, and the Human Torch. Wildcat, Bucky and Namor fight at his side, along with the rest of the soldiers Steve is proud to lead into battle.

It's a grim scene, but despite everything, they're winning, and he can't quite wipe the smile off his face with each punch he throws.

His grin grows wider as Wonder Woman rejoins them.

The first thing he notices is the hair. Someone's been messing with it, because it no longer has the wild, windblown look that he is so used to seeing.

It's ... subdued and pulled back, and Steve has an irrational hatred towards it. It does make his grin falter a bit.

~~

It's still raining when the battle is over. Lantern helps form a large tent while the rest of them do clean-up and help bury the dead.

"You were gone for longer than two days," Steve notes to Diana. The rain and fierceness of battle have undone her hair, so that it is no longer as rigidly held in place, and he feels irrationally pleased by that.

"I was called to the White House while I was in Oklahoma," she answers. "There's a situation with the French resistance fighters that needs our attention. I'll brief you on the flight over?"

They are half way to France when the last of the pins is ripped out of Diana's hair by the wind, and it makes a satisfying ping against Steve's shield on its way down.

~~

The leader of the resistance is a woman, and a beautiful one, with hair as golden as Steve's, and far more well suited to being tied back than Diana's hair is. But more importantly, the words that come out of her mouth are direct and confident.

It makes Diana think that their time in France is all too brief.

She makes a vow to find the pretty resistance fighter when this is all over. Maybe she and Steve will have wonderful, freeing afternoons exploring each of their individual strengths together.

~~

It's two weeks since their last encounter, by the time that Diana lays down next to Steve in another tent in a temporary camp.

"You seem to be in a pretty good mood," Steve remarks. "Your trip Stateside must have done you well."

"You could say that," Diana agrees. "Your world has a lot of problems, Steve. But there are good parts, bursting to break free from the door that holds them back." She tells him, as she undresses, about the interest on the faces of the women at Holliday College and the joy on Izzie's face. She tells him of the strength of Izzie's teacher, and of Eleanor Roosevelt's sharp wit. She ends her story, with her enthusiasm about their resistance leader, as she undoes his pants

Her viewings of their potential days together makes him laugh softly, nervously, and she smiles at the effect. It will take some convincing, perhaps.

They will have time for that later.

"You know," Steve says, "I feel badly about doing this with you in the dirt and the mud. You're a princess, after all."

"You shouldn't," Diana reminds him. "I'm a princess of Amazons; we are not afraid to get dirty. Besides, the earth gave me life."

"I don't think I've heard that story," Steve tells her.

"_Later_," Diana promises, before leaning in for a kiss.

A cool, brisk wind blows through their tent and over their naked skin, but it goes unnoticed.

~~


	4. Chapter 4

Battle still calls to her, of that Diana is certain. She still aches for the need to fight, but the adventure that she had always wanted as a child of Themyscira's shores now comes at price far greater than her sisters had ever demanded.

On Themyscira, battles had been a matter of respecting their history and honoring their gods. In a way, their routines had also prepared them for a battle that might never reach their shores, but for which each of them would have died, if it had been necessary to protect their island.

The battle she craves now demands payment in blood, and there is no respecting history - only repeating it. Likewise, the only god Diana is sure she is honoring these days is Ares.

Though she never stops praying for Hera's strength, or Athena's wisdom, she rarely feels particularly strong and there is no sense to be made out of this war.

She does not know what the world holds for her after this war, but Diana does know she wants this war to be over.

As she bends and closes the eyes of yet another innocent she'd been too slow to protect, Diana sends a prayer to each of her gods that predictions are right and that an end is near.

~~

"You know, I really wish we had the Invaders, or Di with us," Bucky mutters. "Something about this doesn't _feel_ right."

"Both are occupied, pal," Steve answers. "It's just you and me." He doesn't echo Bucky's sentiment aloud, but internally he agrees with Bucky's assessment.

He really wishes Diana were with them. But he shakes that thought off, because the mission she's on is at least as important as this one, if not more so.

~~~

Steve has told Diana that in the last great war Man's World waged, most of the casualties were soldiers. In this war, he tells her, with the sad look Diana never echoes, but does feel in her heart, has taken an equally heavy toll on civilians.

"You don't have to be so polite about it, Miss," the young woman tells Diana, between shallow breaths. "I'm a _nurse._ I know I'm dying."

The woman shivers and the only thing Diana can do is pull the blanket more firmly around her. The doctors and nurses have more patients than they can adequately deal with, and their priorities are to attend to those who can still be saved. For this one, it's too late.

But the threat has been eliminated and for now, Diana is free to remain by the young woman's side. She's young, not much older than Bucky, from the looks of it, and Diana's heart aches at the idea that her young teammate might have to face the lonely kind of death that this woman is so bravely welcoming.

"Wanted to be a soldier," the young woman tells Diana. The breaths are barely more than gasps now. "Wanted to fight the bad guys. This...close as I could get."

Diana thinks of Diana Trevor, who had so willingly sacrificed her life for Diana's people. She thinks too of the soldiers who don't want their women to pick up arms, and of the women that Diana has fought alongside during this terrible war.

Diana squeezes the woman's hand. "You were brave in your fight against the enemy. You gave up your life for a just cause. You _were_ a soldier. No one can take that from you."

The young woman gives a small smile, but no longer has the strength to answer back. Diana bows her head and murmurs a soft prayer to her gods that the rest of Nurse Prince's journey will be a smooth one.

~~~

"Bucky, let go!"

"It's no good, Steve, I'm caught!"

"_Bucky_! No!"

Steve's last memory, before he hits the frigid waters, is watching Bucky and the plane explode, while he falls away, helpless to stop it.

~~

It's been a draining battle and Diana wants nothing more than to seek comfort in the arms of her lover and the gentle teasing of Bucky. But neither Steve nor Bucky are at the next battle site.

Diana has successfully completed two more wins for the Allies before anyone will tell her _why_ Steve and Bucky aren't showing up.

She rushes to the site where their plane exploded, but no matter how long she searches the icy waters, she cannot find any sign of them. There are not even any bodies to send home, to give a hero's funeral.

The sky is bright and clear, so much different from the last time she attempted to rescue Steve from an exploding plane. The brightness of the sun taunts Diana, and each successive, futile stroke amid the cool waters.

Her prayer, when it is offered this time, is not nearly so quiet. Instead, it comes out in a frustrated cry, her head tilted towards the damnably clear sky while her fists smack against the choppy, empty waters.

But despite the loudness of her mourning, her gods do not offer up any remorse, nor does the sea return her friends to her.


	5. Chapter 5

Diana exits the war as a warrior. She returns to home, to the place that has made her one. She kneels in front of her people's temples and grieves the loss of her teammates. She departs the temples and ignores the questions on the Amazons' faces. But her hearing is sharper than theirs, and she hears the words she is not supposed to. _"Who in Man's World would be worth our princess' grief?"   
_  
She stands with her sisters, aims her arrows and hits targets that do not move. She stands across from the women who trained her, lifts her sword, and wages a sparring match that has no true consequences. At night, she slips into her cool sheets, fit for a princess, and the cleanness of the sheets prevent her from sleeping.

She stands on the shores of Themyscira, the calm water lapping at her feet, while Diana watches the storm protecting Themyscira in the distance. Her mother joins her and places a hand on Diana's shoulder.

The weight of her mother's hand is the first feeling beyond grief that Diana has felt since she returned home.

"I wish you would stay," Hippolyta says, in the quiet voice she has always used to warn Diana of the dangers that lurk beyond their shores. "But I know that you will not. Goddess help me, I named you after the right woman."

Diana turns then, allowing the storm to rage without her attention for a moment. "How do you know? I haven't even made that decision myself, yet."

Hippolyta's fingers brush Diana's curls back away from her face. It should be irritating, because the calmness of the wind makes it unnecessary.

Diana doesn't, particularly, find it irritating on this day. "We Amazons treasure our island as a retreat from the ills of Man's World. For you, those ills draw you to Man's World."

"I want to fix them." Diana closes her eyes, and remembers the strong winds on an entirely different beach. "No matter the cost."

"A cost you think your mother does not understand," Hippolyta says with a shake of her head. "You are mistaken, my daughter, if you believe that I do not know how it feels to have Man's World rip away a precious gift bestowed by the gods."

"Perhaps...one day, I will tell you. When the wound isn't as fresh."

Hippolyta does not cry as she embraces Diana, but her voice is soft. "You will visit us often, and you will tell many stories about Man's World. This will always be your home."

Diana returns the hug as strongly as she dares. "I will," she promises in a whisper and with eyes not quite as dry as her mother's. "Your hands are not particularly calloused, but everything I was ever taught about how to fight and how to work hard, I learned at your knee."

It is a repeat of a comment Hippolyta never heard the origin of, but Diana hopes that she understands regardless.

"Keep faith, Diana. Trust to love. Fight with honor." Hippolyta kisses her daughter's forehead and cradles her face one last time. "But fight to _win._"

With those words in her heart, Diana leaves Themyscira, certain that her mother understood what she was trying to say perfectly.

~~

Diana enters the next decade as a hero, but less than four years later, she exits the doors of Congress as an enemy of the United States because she will not tell them the precise location of her island.

They might never make it through the protection the gods provide, but with one eye towards Korea, and the proof that humans like war almost as much as Ares, Diana cannot afford to underestimate them.

"You have to give up being a hero," Alan Scott tells her. "That's what we agreed to do. It's a compromise."

"It is fortunate, then," Diana says, "That I was an _Invader_, and not a member of your Justice Society."

She doesn't give up fighting evil; that the JSA has been forced into retirement is proof enough in Diana's mind that Man's World needs all the help it can get. But being a "rogue World War II hero" is different enough from her typical operating procedure that her methods do require a change.

For the first time, Wonder Woman requires a secret identity.

She dons a skirt, much longer and tighter than the ones she is accustomed to. She pulls her hair back and ties it down, though the act takes considerable practice. She considers many possibilities for her new name. There is an opportunity to pay homage to her fallen teammates, though Diana finds the practice of taking a man's name a rather disgusting act. Diana also considers a number of her fellow Amazon's names, or even her mother's as a "family" name.

In the end, Wonder Woman takes the name Diana Prince as her civilian identity.

"Hmph," Nick Fury says when he finds her. Diana doesn't ask how he found her, nor is she particularly worried. Nick Fury is a friend, and he is as unwilling to play by the rules of the current political climate as she is. "A play on 'princess' I suppose."

"An homage," Diana corrects. "To a nurse who had to hide her true self to serve a greater good. Just like I do."

Fury gives a grunt that Diana has come to recognize is a measure of acceptance. "It's not a bad disguise. But you'll need more than a skirt if you wanna keep eating." He hands her a stack of papers and Diana glances through them. Her wartime experience is now listed as a riveter, and Diana is pleased and prideful that Fury has chosen that occupation. Those women are her sisters, much as the the women she's left behind on Themyscira.

"Thank you, Nicholas."

"I figured, based on your 'testimony' to HUAC that you'd be going underground, since you aren't one of those pansy Society members. Figured you'd need some proof you're who you say you are."

"I appreciate it, though I am sure I could have covered my own tracks."

"Normally, probably. But everyone's so damn paranoid lately... and 'sides, you were always too direct in your fighting to be much of a spy," Fury says gruffly.

"Well..." Diana considers this. "I suppose you have a point. Regardless, I am grateful."

"No sweat, Princess. Just keep in mind, we make it out of this decade without the whole planet blowing each other to hell, you're gonna owe me one."

"An Amazon debt is one that will always be repaid," Diana says sincerely.

"Yeah, yeah. Oh, and Princess? You might want to add a pair of glasses to the look. You'd be surprised at how something so simple fools so many jackasses."

Diana takes his suggestion to heart, and a month later, she has a job working as a secretary for the very government that considers Wonder Woman a rogue.

~~

Diana takes her time, adjusting to her secret identity. In a new pale blue dress, she visits the Lower East Side that Steve told her so much about. She sits in a diner he'd never had money enough to enter and eats the pancakes Dinah always has told her so much about. Over time, Diana finds she does not care particularly much for pancakes. She prefers the bacon, and takes it as proof of Artemis' generosity to the planet.

In the same pale blue dress, Diana goes to the cinema. She recognizes many of the women from the pin-ups the men in the war loved so much, but it is the lovely red-headed actress that Steve had spoke of that Diana makes it a point to watch. Diana Prince has no business meeting with such a woman, but just as Diana Prince allows Diana to experience many things that Wonder Woman cannot, so too does Wonder Woman pass many boundaries that Diana Prince cannot.

"I'm trouble for you, you know," Katharine tells her, as they fly through the air and away from a party that Diana is mostly certain Katharine had not been enjoying. "You are already considered a deviant by many, and Hollywood suspects me of being infatuated with Stalin. I will only make your bad reputation worse."

"Do you consider me a deviant, Katharine?"

"Wondy, I think you're too young to fully know yet what the word even means." Katharine looks up from her spot in Diana's arms, her red hair coming loose from it's hold due to the wind. Katharine doesn't seem to mind, which makes Diana even more fond of her. "But give it a few years, and I suspect you'll be able to pull it off."

Diana grins down at her. "I heard you can shoot. It's been a while since I've had the opportunity to compare aim with another woman. Would you care to join me for a round?"

"If you think you can keep up."

"Oh, I think I _might_."

Katharine laughs and glances down at the land below them. "From this height, I'm just glad I always favored pants. You know, you might think of adding pants to your costume, Wondy."

"I'll certainly consider it, Katharine."

"Call me Kate."

Diana discovers, much to her delight, that Kate shoots as well as she kisses. They share more than one extremely extravagant night together and their discussions blur lines between politics, hunting and the arts. "Never forget, Wondy," Kate tells her, "no matter what our government may think of your 'communist' leanings, the ladies of the world are quite fond of you. Well, at least the ones who have some sense between their ears."

Diana's evenings with Kate, though never particularly serious, form a friendship Diana is proud of and a sexual release that Diana quite enjoys.

Still, she is glad for Katharine's flexible views on sexuality, because as the decade ends, Diana's continued efforts to find the pretty spy she and Steve had known in France come to fruition. It takes time for the amnesia to fully heal, but Diana finds her efforts worth it. Peggy Carter is as gorgeous and _strong_, in all the ways different from Kate that Diana remembers. Together, they remember the war they fought and discuss the wars they both believe are around the horizon.

And, of course, they remember Steve. "If things were different...I could have loved him," Peggy tells Diana, searching her face for a jealousy that isn't there.

"If things were different, he would have loved you too," Diana tells her.

Instead, Diana and Peggy love each other, however temporarily their relationship may be.

~~

Diana enters the sixties with a considerable sense of deja vu, where work is concerned. She gains two new bosses. The first is Lieutenant Etta Candy, who has grown up quite a bit since Wonder Woman visited her college. Etta shares chocolate with Diana and tells her often of the speech and "the Diana Trevor lady" that Wonder Woman had spoken so fondly of.

Diana's second new boss is a soldier. He's also tall and broad, blond-haired and blue-eyed.

Steve Trevor, who argues with _his_ bosses about the "red" leanings of Wonder Woman, is considerate to his staff, male and female alike. Diana allows herself to comment on that fact aloud one day, and he smiles at her and tells her about the mother he'd lost.

"My memories of her are hazy," Steve says, "Because she died when I was very young. But I'd hate to think that I'd be letting down her legacy in any way. You're part of the crew, Prince, and until you give me reason to doubt it, I'll treat you like it."

It's a nice change, not having a boss who expects her to fetch his coffee in addition to her _actual_ duties. But it is Diana of Themyscira, not Diana Prince, who takes _this_ blond soldier to her bed. His thrusts are not quite frenzied enough, but he makes every effort to make up for it. In the aftermath, Diana holds his sweating body close, and tells him of his mother's fate, of the warrior her people celebrate.

She loves him. It is a different love than the affection she'd felt for Steve Rogers and this one actually has a chance to grow into something more.

Steve certainly wants it to. He holds her, late at night, and talks of their wedding, their future little flyers, and teases her about asking for Hippolyta's blessing. Diana kisses and teases him back, and her heart never once gives any indication she is lying.

But one hot July day, Wonder Woman's mission finds her in the middle of a country far away from the one she has adopted as her own. She is horrified to discover women being bartered and caged, sold as sexual property, repeatedly violated. The weapons used are from the land Diana currently calls home, the names "Queen" and "Stark" proudly displayed on the metal used to intimidate the women.

Diana disarms the men and renders them unable to move. She frees the women. The decision what to do with those weapons remains with those women, but Diana stays to watch their decision.

She watches, as the women hesitate, and Diana remembers an Amazon prayer, taught to her before she could fully talk.

_Grant me the wisdom to avoid further bloodshed. Grant me the grace to forgive my enemies..._

She watches the women pick up the arms. _But failing that, Goddess...at least grant me the gift of good aim._

Together Diana and the women celebrate over wine.

Diana returns to her adopted country with a need to escape. There is much more to the world than the home of Diana Trevor and Steve Rogers, and she needs to leave behind the identity she has taken so long to establish in order to figure it out.

Steve's pleas do not persuade her to change her mind.

~~

Diana enters the next decade as a nomad.

"Things were very simple on Themyscira," she tells I-Ching.

"And they were simple when you were punching Nazis, I imagine," I-Ching tells her, not without sympathy.

"Very simple," Diana agrees with a laugh.

"But today, we have another student. Let's focus on teaching him what each of us have to offer. Perhaps by passing on our talents to a new generation, our actions will gain wisdom through their efforts, that we lack in our own lives."

As the decade progresses, Diana spends a lot of time _teaching_. Besides the supposedly dead millionaire that trains with her and I-Ching, Diana spends time in Europe, sparring with a boy so _young_ that she would disbelieve his given age, except for the transparency of his honesty.

She still thinks about using the lasso of truth on him, just to be sure.

But instead, she gives him as many pointers as she can. He has the strength to _need_ it, and Diana worries that such raw strength as the boy has will either go untapped due to the boy's fear of it, or it will cause damage - for the same reason.

She tries to teach him, because he is a good boy, for all of his painful youngness. "Don't be afraid of your powers. They're your _gift_. Do whatever you need to conceal that power from your enemies - a new name, a ridiculous pair of glasses they should be able to see past... but when the time comes to use your power, _don't be afraid._."

"You can't expect all your students to listen to you all the time," I-Ching says, and that much is true with the boy. The only advice he takes is the bit about the glasses.

Diana supposes Nick Fury will be pleased.

~~

Diana exits the decade a little more sure of herself, and her teaching skills.

Though she no longer calls the United States her home, she does return for occasional visits. Peggy Carter has a niece, and the child is stubborn and determined to follow her aunt's path. But her aunt's bones have grown old where Diana's have not, and so it falls to Diana to teach lessons, under Peggy's watchful eyes.

Again, she plays teacher, when she is called to have lunch with the Drake-Lance family. She listens as the woman she fought beside argues with her daughter about following in her footsteps. She understands, but she sees herself in young Dinah's face, and remembers arguments with her own mother on similar, if not identical themes.

It makes Diana homesick, and so she returns to her home for a visit, taking Dinah and Sharon with her. There, they learn from the women who made Diana everything she is.

She sits on the sand and critiques their fighting, before returning them. They repeat this trip many times, with both Sharon and Dinah reporting the results to Peggy Carter. Diana suspects Dinah reports the results to her "uncles" as well.

Often they have tea upon their return home, and during one such visit, Diana watches the protests and parades on the television and she is surprised to see her name invoked.

"Oh. You're a feminist and gay icon," Sharon informs her. "Aunt Peggy always laughs at the last one, but she won't tel me why...Wait, why didn't you know that?"

"I've been gone a while," Diana responds with amusement.

And it's true, but Diana figures that perhaps her time as a nomad has lasted long enough. She joins the parades and protests with delight, and quickly finds that she doesn't have room in her schedule any longer for a secret identity.

She does, however, make time to attend the wedding of Steve Trevor and Etta Candy when the invitation comes. Etta makes a beautiful bride, and Steve is as handsome as ever.

~~

Diana enters the next decade without much of a secret identity at all. Following her anti-drug tour of Boston's elementary schools, she's met by her old friend, Nick Fury.

"Nicholas," she says warmly, offering a hug that makes him mutter under his breath. "It's been a long time since I've seen you."

"Some of us have been fighting wars, lady," he answers. "While others were off wanderin' around the world."

"Your journeys took you around the world, as well, I suspect," Diana responds.

"That's a fact. I'm thinking of settlin' down a bit, now, though. Which brings us to that favor you owe me. No one much thinks you're a 'commie,' anymore," Fury tells her. "We might as well take advantage of that and put you to work."

"No, they've moved on to thinking I'm trying to stop any of them from enjoying sex," Diana answers amusedly. "It's interesting, what people will claim about those seeking equality in order to make them feel better about their oppressive efforts."

"How they can think that when you wear an outfit like that, I don't get. But if the world had any sense, people like us wouldn't have much to do, would we?"

"I suppose not," Diana responds with a chuckle. "What is it, exactly, that you want me to do, Nicholas?"

"There's been rumblings. Bunch of yahoos wanting to play superhero. Which means plenty of scumbags gonna step up to challenge them. I've been thinking that the heroes might need some people to pick up the slack."

"Like in the war?" Diana teases him.

"Exactly," Fury retorts. "And don't worry, Princess. You agree to help me train my group and you'll still have plenty of time for Greenpeace and your little talks with Regan and Gorbachev."

"They're very important issues," Diana insists. "Especially the issue with Russia." She feels particularly certain of that.

Her "little talks" prove to be quite successful, and in return for her role, Diana is rewarded with the status of Themysciran Ambassador. She accepts the role, but she still makes time to repay Fury's favor.

~~

In the following decade, Diana spends a lot of time rejecting offers for her time.

"A new superhero team cropping up every day," Fury grumbles, as they watch the new batch of S.H.I.E.L.D. recruits complete the day's training. "If you ask me - and nobody does - they're all too wet behind the ears. Bunch of puppies trying to be lions."

Diana watches her recruits and smiles proudly at their efforts. None of them are exactly Sharon or Little Dinah, but they are very good and will make excellent S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. "I think both the Avengers and the Justice League show a lot of promise."

"But not enough for you to join when they keep askin' you to?"

"I have other duties, as a warrior, as a teacher, and as an ambassador of my people," Diana answers.

"I'm glad to hear it." Fury leans back in his seat. "There's something you should know, about the Avengers. I only learned about it today, or I woulda told you sooner. Keep that in mind, princess, before you decide to toss me into the sun."

"What is it, Nicholas?"

"They claim to have found a friend of ours. One that's been gone a while. I can't really confirm it either way - but I figured you might want to. So you could break some bones, if he turns out to be a fake. Just like the last couple o'times someone impersonated him."

Diana doesn't have to ask, then, which one he means, because there's only one of their mutual friends that people keep trying to be - _when they have no right._

She doesn't say goodbye to Fury before she leaves, nor does she say hello to the Avengers before she flies into their mansion. "I will speak to your 'Captain America' now," she informs them. Her fists curl, in a very non-diplomatic fashion at her sides, and all the rage and grief caused by decades-old loss resurfaces.

"Now hold on, Wonder Woman. We've already checked out his story," Iron Man tells her. "He isn't an imposter."

"That is not for you to decide," Diana answers.

"He's our teammate," the Wasp interrupts. "And this is our home. Of course it's our decision."

"Captain America was my teammate for years. The ... person you are holding has been yours for _days_. Do not presume to lecture _me_ about the bonds you feel you owe him."

"None of us would ever doubt an Amazon's loyalty," Thor says, interrupting whatever Giant-Man is preparing to say. It's just as well, because Diana does not want to remind him that he would not be the first Giant she has fought. "Captain America is in the library, Princess Diana."

"Thank you, Thor." She turns, and does not spare the Avengers' grumblings any additional thought.

She finds Captain America sitting in the library, bowed over a pile of newspapers. He looks...tired. But just as young as he has always remained in Diana's memory.

He looks up when she enters and recognition falls over his face. "Diana!"

He stands immediately and Diana ignores the twinge in her heart long enough to raise a hand. "More than once before, someone has claimed to be a man I loved deeply. Give me proof that you are not simply another imposter."

"I've been reading your exploits," he says. "Trying to catch up. I keep remembering how worried I was, during the war, that we were disappointing you - that all the adventure you ever dreamed of, our world gave you only with death. I guess we didn't disappoint you too much. Not if you decided to stay."

She wants to believe him, then. But still, she hesitates. "This deaths never stopped," she answers quietly.

"No." He closes his eyes and the pain is obvious on his face. "I tried so hard to save him, Diana. I reached, but I couldn't - " He stops and swallows hard.

Diana doesn't have to ask who he is referring to, and she doesn't have to doubt his identity any longer, because the truthfulness of the pain on his face is all the confirmation she needs. She closes the gap between them and embraces him. "I miss Bucky, too," she says. "Every day."

He bows his head into her neck and returns her embrace. It is ... just right. Just as firm and just as gentle as she remembers. Diana closes her eyes and breathes in his scent. Five decades have not changed how right he feels in her arms.

"I'm sure there are others, too," Steve says. "Ones that we've lost that I don't know about yet."

"There are." She runs her fingers through his hair protectively. "But in turn, we've gained new ones. Good friends and allies, that you and I never would have anticipated, all those years ago when the gods first dropped you into my arms."

"You will tell me about them?" Steve raises his head to look into her eyes. His are still wet, and pained with the memory of the loss of his best friend.

"Of course I will," she promises. "It will be my pleasure."

Eventually, she thinks, she will have to apologize to the Avengers as well, for her behavior. But that can wait.

For now, Diana focuses on claiming the kiss she has been waiting decades for.


End file.
